Tacos Leo: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

Much has been made of the demise of fine dining in Los Angeles: You can blame (or credit) the recession and, just as significantly, the technology that has made it possible for a stellar $1 taco to garner as much screen time as a great coq au vin. Which brings us to Tacos Leo, a lonchero that caught the attention of the food Twitterati once photos of its al pastor on a spit made their way across the Internet. Because this surely is unlike any other taco truck you've visited: With a knife in one hand and a warm tortilla in the other, a taquero will carve thin, juicy slices of meat off that spit and flick them onto the tortilla; a slice of pineapple will quickly follow. You can't help but admire the beautiful simplicity of these tacos, and as you devour them curbside, you'll note that the only white cloths here are the ones in the napkin dispenser. Welcome to fine dining 2.0. 1515 S. La Brea Ave. (in the parking lot of the 76 gas station), Mid-City; (323) 346-2001, leostacotruck.com. Sun.-Thurs., 7 a.m.-3 a.m.; Fri.-Sat., 7 a.m.-4 a.m. $1-$5. Cash only. No alcohol.